1. Field of the Invention
The object of the invention is a cleaning apparatus with cleaning rings for cleaning cylindrical bodies, preferably for the quartz cladding tubes in UV disinfection units, especially in UV disinfection sluices for waste water, which in addition to an axially parallel longitudinal movement over the outside surfaces perform an additional angularly limited and alternating rotational movement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wiper apparatuses with rigid wiper rings which are mostly made of UV-proof teflon and can be moved back and forth on the quartz cladding tubes in which the UV radiators are installed have long been used in closed cylindrical UV radiation chambers. The quartz glass, of which the cladding tubes for UV radiators are made, is a material that is difficult to process. The quartz cladding tubes are drawn in the doughy state and are often not precisely round and as a result come with relatively high diameter tolerances. For this reason alone, rigid wiper rings cannot be fully effective at all places because troughs in the surface of the cladding tubes pass under the spatula edge of a wiper ring and the wiper rings do not rest in a sufficiently flush way in the case of a lower deviation in the dimension. Such wiper rings also mostly wipe over the mostly slimy initial soiling on the quartz cladding tubes. Round brushes instead of rigid wiper rings are better, but are only useful and effective as long as they rotate about the quartz cladding tubes. This requires a considerable mechanical effort with respect to gearing since the units comprise a large number of UV radiators, with every single one of them being housed in a cladding tube. It is currently more appropriate in closed UV radiation chambers and especially also in UV disinfection sluices for waste water to ensure according to the state of the art that that one can quickly remove and install the quartz cladding tubes without breakage instead of making do with the inadequate rigid wiper rings. Often, the wiper apparatuses are omitted. Within a short service operation every quartz cladding tube can be removed quickly, inspected precisely and cleaned thoroughly outside of the radiation chamber. In the case of open UV radiation sluices, the banks are arranged in superimposed rows of UV radiators in modules which can be withdrawn for cleaning purposes and are immersed in cleaning solutions for example in order to reinsert them again in the radiator bank after rinsing. The statements made above already apply insofar as such radiator banks in UV radiation sluices comprise wiper apparatuses for the quartz cladding tubes. The problem is well-known to all manufacturers and also the operators of UV units and solutions are always considered. Partly they lead to exotic solutions, e.g. to wiper rings with chambers which additionally contain cleaning chemicals which are to be used up over time.
FIG. 1 shows a wiper ring 1 in a can-shaped ring housing 2 which is fastened to a wiper rod assembly 3 with which it can be moved back and forth on the quartz cladding tube 4 in both directions of movement S. Mostly two or more wiper rings are spaced on the quartz cladding tube which overlap one another so as to avoid any empty spaces during the cleaning process on the cladding tube surface and the wiper strokes are shorter. Reference numeral 8 relates to an trough shown excessively large at a place which is out of round on the surface of the cladding tube 4. It is easy to see that even in the case that the trough depth is in the tenth millimeter range one cannot expect a one-hundred percent cleaning effect, apart from the smearing of dirt at virtually round places on the quartz tube.